TheeBadOne
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NEW YORK, July 8 — School administrators forced several eighth-graders to be tested for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases after they skipped school to attend a party where some students reportedly had sex, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
ABOUT 10 GIRLS were told they couldn’t return to Intermediate School 164 without a doctor’s note after they attended the “hooky party,†said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“What [the school] did is completely unheard of,†Lieberman said. “It violates their right to privacy. It violated their right to go to school. It violated their right not to be subjected to summary punishment.â€
One male student also attended the party, but he was not required to be tested for diseases, Lieberman said.
Asked about the federal lawsuit, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said, “As in any lawsuit, there are two sides. Different people have different views of what happened, and we will respond appropriately in court.â€
A woman who answered the phone at I.S. 164 said she had no comment.
A DOCTOR’S ‘OUTRAGE’
Dr. David Bell, who saw two of the girls at New York Presbyterian Hospital’s family planning clinic, said he was “outraged†that the school demanded confidential medical information from the students.
“Having teens presented to me as a punishment jeopardizes their trust to future relationships with me and their future care providers,†Bell said.
According to the lawsuit, the two plaintiffs got notes stating only that they had been seen in the clinic, but those were rejected. They were forced to get a second note that included their test results, said Rebekah Diller, director of the NYCLU’s reproductive rights project.
“There seems to be an assumption here that if they had tested positive for pregnancy or for an STD that they would not have been allowed back in the school,†Lieberman said. “That’s clearly wrong under the law.â€
In addition to unspecified monetary damages, the NYCLU is asking the court to order the Department of Education to apologize to the girls, to remove the matter from their academic records and to train its personnel to respect students’ privacy.
ABOUT 10 GIRLS were told they couldn’t return to Intermediate School 164 without a doctor’s note after they attended the “hooky party,†said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
“What [the school] did is completely unheard of,†Lieberman said. “It violates their right to privacy. It violated their right to go to school. It violated their right not to be subjected to summary punishment.â€
One male student also attended the party, but he was not required to be tested for diseases, Lieberman said.
Asked about the federal lawsuit, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said, “As in any lawsuit, there are two sides. Different people have different views of what happened, and we will respond appropriately in court.â€
A woman who answered the phone at I.S. 164 said she had no comment.
A DOCTOR’S ‘OUTRAGE’
Dr. David Bell, who saw two of the girls at New York Presbyterian Hospital’s family planning clinic, said he was “outraged†that the school demanded confidential medical information from the students.
“Having teens presented to me as a punishment jeopardizes their trust to future relationships with me and their future care providers,†Bell said.
According to the lawsuit, the two plaintiffs got notes stating only that they had been seen in the clinic, but those were rejected. They were forced to get a second note that included their test results, said Rebekah Diller, director of the NYCLU’s reproductive rights project.
“There seems to be an assumption here that if they had tested positive for pregnancy or for an STD that they would not have been allowed back in the school,†Lieberman said. “That’s clearly wrong under the law.â€
In addition to unspecified monetary damages, the NYCLU is asking the court to order the Department of Education to apologize to the girls, to remove the matter from their academic records and to train its personnel to respect students’ privacy.
